SARATOGA SPRINGS -- A crew spent all day Friday tearing down the home at 23 Greenfield Ave. that has been the center of controversy since the owners bought it and their demolition plans came to light last summer.

Ronald and Michele Riggi own the property which abuts their North Broadway mansion.

Linda LeTendre, who lives kitty-corner to the ill-fated structure, said listening to the demolition was "like hearing somebody in pain all day; it's really sad."

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She said the city is losing an important piece of history.

A member of the Schodack-based Dan's Hauling and Demolition crew working on the house said the work would probably take another week or two to complete. Three men are working on the project. He said they had just been hired for the demolition and did not know what the long-term plans for the property are. The Riggis have not said what they plan to do with the property once it is cleared.

He said the crew was hired to tear down the building about a year ago but was delayed when the city issued a stop-work order and later a temporary demolition moratorium. The moratorium lapsed on April 30.

LeTendre said the demolition "chips away at the outdoor art museum that is this city."

"You're buying more than a piece of property -- you're buying a piece of the city's history," she said. "If everybody thought the way (the Riggis did) there would be no Saratoga Springs and they wouldn't have wanted to put their mansion on the most prestigious street in Saratoga Springs."

LeTendre has lived in her home since 2002. "I will confess to tearing a house down," she said, but maintains that she and her husband were left without a choice because the existing building was "not restorable" and that they took care to make sure the house they built fit in with the historic aesthetic of the neighborhood.